SMASD schools undergoing repairs, renovations

The front portion of St. Marys Area High School is undergoing a facelift as part of the district's annual repairs and renovations. Photo by Amy Cherry.

Summer is a busy time for area schools, including St. Marys Area School District, which is in the process of carrying out several repairs and renovations.
Among the facility updates which have been completed or are currently under way are new carpet installed in 13 rooms at the middle school; new chairs in the Fox Township Elementary art room and in the Bennetts Valley Elementary music room; new chairs in all fourth and fifth grade classrooms at Fox Twp.; and new cafeteria chairs and tables at the high school, purchased from cafeteria funds with no use of general budget funds. Additionally, the cafeteria and library at South St. Marys Street Elementary have been newly painted and a new privacy room has been installed at the high school near the gym restrooms for use by students with special needs.
New Promethian boards were installed at several schools, including three new boards at the middle school, five at Fox Township and eight at South. All of the special education classrooms also received replacement computers. Bennetts Valley has two new computers inside a computer lab, which is now more accessible to teachers due to scheduling and the number of students.
St. Marys Area Superintendent Ann Kearney said S&L Vinyl Fencing from DuBois submitted a bid of $4,933 to make necessary repairs on the tennis court fences. Among the needed repairs are fixing fence posts, repairing and replacing hardware and cleaning the holes and re-cementing them.
A room-size air conditioning unit was installed Monday at South St. Marys Street Elementary as part of a trial period.
"If this is workable, perhaps we can order a few more to put in the school's strategic areas," Kearney said, noting the various overheated classrooms. "Luckily, we only have between five and 10 days that are extremely hot."